PARK CITY, Utah – Freshman Liv Moritz won her first career race on Saturday and the Denver Pioneers ski team finished second overall as the 2024 Utah Invitational concluded at Olympic Park.
 
Moritz guided four Pioneer women in the top 15 in the giant slalom and produced her second podium in as many days. The Vail, Colorado, native came in second on Friday in the GS event to wrap up the Westminster Invitational on the same slope.
 
The Pioneers recorded 568 points on the team leaderboard to place behind the Utes for the second-straight meet to start the 2024 campaign after also coming in the runner-up position in the Westminster Invite. DU was 89 points behind host Utah (657) and had a nine-point edge over third-place Colorado (559).
 
Denver's women paced the field in the two days of alpine competition, recording the most points with 169 between Saturday's giant slalom and Thursday's slalom race. Sophomore Sara Rask earned a top-five placement in fifth in the weekend event (2:10.47) while senior Nora Brand rounded out the Pios' scorers two spots later in seventh (2:10.83) to help the DU women also earn the team title on the day, edging Westminster by just one point (94-93).
 
Sophomore Mia Hunt came in 13th and Josephine Trueblood ended 26th.
 
Moritz was in a podium position after the first run with the third-fastest time at 1:03.27 but jumped over Westminster's Hanna Saethereng in the afternoon session and was the benefactor of leader Justine Lamontagne or Montana State not finishing run 2. Moritz posted a total time of 2:09.20 to beat second-place Saethereng by 34-hundredths of a second (2:09.54) and third-place Evelina Fredricsson of Westminster by 76-hundredths of a second (2:09.96).
 
Rask was the last Pioneer freshman to podium and earn a win in her first two collegiate giant slaloms, doing so at last year's Colorado Invitational. Rask posted four wins and five podiums in her first six races in 2023.
 
In the men's giant slalom to begin the day, junior Cooper Cornelius led DU and picked up his second consecutive top-10 finish by placing 10th (2:04.87). Sophomore Adrian Minde Hunshammer was the biggest mover in the men's event, as he climbed 16 spots after the first run. He had the fastest second run at 1:02.02 to move up from 27th and finish behind Cornelius in 11th (2:05.11), tying a career-best result and posting a new personal high in GS.
 
Senior Trey Seymour was Denver men's third scorer in 15th, while freshman Christian Soevik came in 21st and sophomore Thomas Hoffman in 24th. Sophomore Jack Bowers wasn't able to finish his descent in the morning session.
 
Colorado won the men's team event with 96 points after having all three of its scorers in the top 10 and was led by freshman Ryder Sarchett, who joined Moritz in posting his first win as well. Alaska Anchorage's Leon Nikic was runner-up while Montana State's Gianluca Boehm earned the bronze.
 
UP NEXT: With the opening two meets of the season finished, the teams will have nearly two weeks off before the two-day Colorado Invitational on Feb. 2-3 in Steamboat Springs. That meet will serve as a preview to the NCAA Championships in March with the same distances and venues as those that will be used at this year's nationals. The Pioneers will then host the Denver Invitational from Feb. 5-10 at Loveland Ski Area and Maloit Park in Minturn, Colorado.
 
 
DENVER MEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
10. Cooper Cornelius, 2:04.87 (1:01.55/1:03.32)
11. Adrian Minde Hunshammer, 2:05.11 (1:03.09/1:02.02)
15. Trey Seymour, 2:05.49 (1:01.77/1:03.72)
21. Christian Soevik, 2:06.09 (1:02.38/1:03.71)
24. Thomas Hoffman, 2:06.40 (1:02.62/1:03.78)
DNF: Jack Bowers (run 1)
 
DENVER WOMEN GIANT SLALOM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1. Liv Moritz, 2:09.20 (1:03.27/1:05.93)
5. Sara Rask, 2:10.34 (1:03.66/1:06.81)
7. Nora Brand, 2:10.83 (1:05.10/1:05.73)
13. Mia Hunt, 2:11.74 (1:04.69/1:07.57)
26. Josephine Trueblood, 2:19.04 (1:09.29/1:09.75)
 
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (through 8-of-8 events): 1. Utah 657; 2. Denver 568; 3. Colorado 559; 4. Montana State 500; 5. Alaska Anchorage 465; 6. Westminster 289; 7. Alaska Fairbanks 275; 8. Nevada 128; 9. Colorado Mountain College 117; Wyoming 112.
 
WOMEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (27 finishers): 1. Liv Moritz, DU, 2:09.20; 2. Hannah Saethereng, WU, 2:09.54; 3. Evelina Fredricsson, WU, 2:09.96; 4. Kaja Norbye, UU, 2:10.34; 5. Sara Rask, DU, 2:10.34; 6. Denise Dingsleder, CU, 2:10.72; 7. Nora Brand, DU, 2:10.83; 8. Julia Toiviainen, CU, 2:10.98; 9. Giulia Tintorri, WU, 2:11.47; 10. Ainsley Proffit, UAA, 2:11.60.
 
MEN'S GIANT SLALOM TOP 10 (39 finishers): 1. Ryder Sarchett, CU, 2:03.51; 2. Leon Nikic, UAA, 2:04.10; 3. Gianluca Boehm, MSU, 2:04.29; 4. Filip Wahlqvist, CU, 2:04.32; 5. Jeremie Lagier, WU, 2:04.44; 6. Isak Staurset, MSU, 2:04.49; 7. Louis Fausa, CU, 2:04.58; 8. Mikkel Solbakken, UU, 2:04.66; 9. Oliver Parazette, UU, 2:04.75; 10. Cooper Cornelius, DU, 2:04.87.


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